Radical Embodiment

"The desire to know the elemental structure of existence drove philosophy's earliest inquiries. David H. Nikkel, of the University of California, makes this quest contemporary. Instead of looking for the essential components constituting the world, he presents our biological creatureliness as phenomenologically basic to our religious experience. Nikkel's concept of 'Radical Embodiment' attempts to develop this claim and to essentialize human materiality within his portrayal of religion, God's existence, transcendence and the afterlife. [ - ] Nikkel's argument draws upon a startling range of resources to produce a colourful mosaic that, while not always cohesive, invites readers into scientific and psychological discussions not usually heard among theologians." --Nathan D. Hieb, New Jersey in Theology Vol. 115 (No.3), May/ June 2012. "This is an interesting book that engages with a number of disciplines to bring together an argument that is radical embodiment and to situate it within the current theological world. It is a loud call for recognising intersubjectivity as a theological given which seems to me to be a message that needs to be repeated many times in these days." --A. J. Cocksworth in The Expository Times, Vol. 124 (1), October 2012 "...[Nikkel] never tries to disguise that the motivation for his thinking it 'trusting our religious demands' and 'trusting our bodily naturalness'. That makes his argument very personable, vey understandable - and sometime very suggestive..." --Christina Aus der Au, Theologische Revue, Number 1, 2013